L.A. Officials Announce Light Rail Coming to the San Fernando Valley

A rendering of the future light rail line adjacent to the Van Nuys Civic Center. Credit: LA Metro

The New Light Rail Service Connecting Van Nuys and Sylmar is Set to Break Ground in 2021

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles officials including L.A. Mayor and Metro Board Chair Eric Garcetti, L.A. City Councilmembers Krekorian, Rodriguez, Martinez and a host of local and state elected officials met at the Van Nuys Metro Orange Line Station this morning to announce the Metro Board’s approval of light rail as the official technology for the East San Fernando Valley Transit Corridor Project.

When completed in 2027, the new rail line will span 9.2 miles and include 14 new stations between the Van Nuys Metro Orange Line Station and Sylmar/San Fernando Metrolink Station. Trains will travel in the median of Van Nuys Boulevard before turning northwest on San Fernando Road, where they will continue on the Metro-owned rail right-of-way adjacent to the street. A one-way trip from Van Nuys to the San Fernando Metrolink station is expected to take approximately 31 minutes. The project marks the planned return of street-level local stop rail service in the Valley since Pacific Electric Red Cars last traveled on portions of Van Nuys Boulevard in 1952.

The $1.3-billion light rail line is funded by the state’s SB-1 program, Measure M, and Measure R. The East San Fernando Valley Transit Corridor is included in Mayor Garcetti’s Twenty-Eight by ’28 initiative – a plan to accelerate and build 28 major transportation projects by the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The project is set to break ground in 2021 and open in 2027. The vote by the Metro Board of Directors moves the project to the final environmental review stage, which is expected to be certified by the Board early next year.

Van Nuys Boulevard is the second-busiest bus corridor in the San Fernando Valley and seventh-busiest in the Metro system. The new rail line will offer transfers to the Orange Line, Metro bus lines, Metrolink, Amtrak, and two future Metro projects — the Sepulveda Transit Corridor rail line and the North San Fernando Valley Bus Rapid Transit line.